Well,..I haven't been hunting much this rifle season. Been too hot and windy for me to get very excited. However,..I thought I'd give it a try this morning before the cold front comes blasting in.

So I get up this morning and get my gear together. I was already running late due to an "unscheduled Metamucil moment", I get out to the woods way later than I wanted. I can already see real well and think well crap,..might as well just hunt my way in.

So I'm doing the best "sneak" that a 300 lb person can do, and about half way to my stand I catch movement. It's a coyote cutting across my path, about 70 yards in front of me and he can't smell me and hasn't seen me. As he's making his way he ducks behind a small cedar bush. I take the opportunity to get on one knee and get ready. I'm hunting with the .270 I'm planning on taking elk hunting next week loaded up with 130gr TSX's, building up more confidence. The coyote proceeds to hit my trail and turn walking towards me, and I've got the crosshairs right where they need to be. Right about 50 yards, he figures out something isn't right and gets that "oh crap,..I just messed up" look on his face. Just as he's putting 2 and 2 together, I dropped the hammer on em. He goes down and then does that tail chase thing, then falls over. I can see he's still breathing as I get close, so I give it the Coup de Grace.

Now I'll take a coyote out anytime, don't really care if I'm deer hunting or not. I don't think shots bother deer too much and I hate coyotes, they eat baby calves, chase deer, eat persimmons and crap all over. That's about the extent of their usefulness.

So the coyote is down and I keep heading towards my stand thinking this is going to be another unsuccessful deer hunt. I've been up in my stand for over an hour when I catch more movement. I glance over to my left and see the back half of a deer behind a tree. The way it's walking will give me 1 opportunity when it clears the tree. The deer clears the tree and I see it's a good buck. So I do the ol' mouth bleat and it stops, quarters to me just a tad and looks for the source of the sound. I put the crosshairs right where the heart should be and touch one off. The buck kicked up a bit in the air and takes off running. I can hear lots of leaves rustling and then silence. I figure I made a good shot, so after about 5 minutes I climb down and go look for sign.

After getting to where he was standing, the sign was impossible to miss and I got a good feeling.



There was blood everywhere, it looked like a hit with a broadhead. I followed the blood trail and there was blood knee high about every 6 feet. I looked like every time he took a bound, a few Tbs of blood would gush out, it was on everything.



After about 30 yards, it got ridiculous, I was wondering how much this ol' boy had left in him, he couldn't have gone much further.



Following the trail another 20 yards, I saw what all of us hope to see.



Dead Deer Down...!

Turns out, he was bigger and probably older than I though. His teeth were getting pretty worn down, and he had knocked off his brow tines. I'm sure he had been spreading his genes around, his tarsal glands were NASTY....

Here's a pic of the ol' buck in all his glory right where he fell. He had a goofy rack. The base diameter carries all the way out to the G2's and the tines aren't very tall. He won't make any of the hunting shows, but he's a trophy in my book. He dressed out @ 149 lbs. I think that's a little better than average for Lincoln county. I'm going to take him to Skulls Inc. and keep the skull and jawbone as a trophy.



I got him loaded up, and on the way out I stopped and took a pic of the coyote. It was bigger than it looked. I thought it was male, but it was a big female. I'm glad to get her out of the area. She had a nice coat, but stunk really bad, must have been rolling in something dead....



Anyhow,..it didn't start out a very good day,..I almost didn't go after getting a late start, but I'm glad I did. Maybe this will help some of ya'll get out in the morning. Afterall,..it might be your lucky day.

Happy Thanksgiving All......

Pretty cool..I love deer with wonky racks...

I suppose you realize you just left yourself open to accusations of being a WONKER.

Is that anything like a wanker???

I don't think I want to know.

... and I sure as hell don't want to see any photos.

Awwwwww...C'mon.....

It'll be phun!

You're skeerin' me...

Very nice!!!

Nice buck - congrats!

Very nice deer!

You don't look a pound over 320

Hard to beat a .270!

Mike

Congrats on a nice buck.

Another great day of hunting. Congratulations and thanks for the pics.

They say the camera adds a couple pounds...I'm sure it's just bad lighting...

very cool man! congrats on a nice buck!

If you want to do the skull yourself, it is pretty easy. You don't need beetles or the wife's kitchen stove either.

Brent

Pass that info along!! I wanna know

Yeah,..what's the skinny. Boiling makes a mess and I don't have any beetles. What's the other option you have in mind..?

The technical terminology - anerobic maceration. But in reality, just skin out the head and remove as much soft tissue as possible, including eyes, tongue, etc. Then throw it in a bucket of water, put a lid on it. Best to keep the antlers out of the water. And if it has horns (e.g., antelope) pull them off first). Then let it sit for a few months. You can change water once a month if you want. Don't let it freeze.

Then the important part. On a Sunday morning when everyone is at church, go down to the local do it yourself car wash with a pile of quarters and hose it down with the soap and the high pressure rinse.

You can let it dry in the sun and bleach itself in the sun, but DO NOT EVER apply liquid bleach like Chlorox. NEVER EVER.

Someone on the 'fire once posted an alternative to liquid bleach but I don't recall what it was or who posted. It was good professional info though.

If you prick your finger on a sharp bone - like the vomerine - go directly to the hospital and get a shot of general antiboitis. Don't ask how I know... .:(

Anyway, it works well. I have bison, antelope, and deer done this way. The antlers can be a problem but consider if you can fashion a lid with holes or maybe use a piece of plastic tarp to let the horns stay out of the water.

Try to prevent freezing...

Brent